The Dark Side of the Moon
by Charlie Alice
Summary: when Grace and Neil are sent undercover to investigate a drugs syndicate everything starts to go wrong, and they find out things they never knew. sorry i'm awful at summarries. pairing grace/neil WARNING - adult themes
1. Chapter 1

Grace cursed as she looked at her watch, then back at the endless stream of unmoving traffic

Disclaimer- if you recognize it, its not mine

Grace cursed as she looked at her watch, then back at the endless stream of unmoving traffic. At this rate she would earn herself a lecture from sun hill's less friendly DI, not that his personal opinion mattered much to her, but she valued her professionalism, and remembering her less than successful date the previous night, she decided a lecture from her irate boss would not improve her mood

After another dark glare at the offending traffic lights she turned her car down a side street and started heading in the opposite direction, deciding to collect the DI's latest report before going into the office, then there might be at least one less person yelling at her, after all the meet Manson had scheduled with her was closer to her house than the station anyway and checking up on the undercover op took precedence over other cases she reasoned with herself.

.

Fifteen minutes later Grace arrived at a slightly shabby looking building on Canley's outskirts that looked somewhat tacky in the daylight, with its neon sign and slightly eccentric colour scheme. She checked her appearance in the car mirror one last time before she got out. She was wearing a knee length floral skirt in pastel colours, chiefly a pale lavender colour, a lace trimmed singlet top and a cardigan with white slingback heels. Of course none of this was her ideal choice of clothing, she thought almost longingly of her nice, simple black suits and clean tops, but they needed a justification for her frequent visits to collect information from Manson, Neil she reminded herself, he was her boyfriend, not her boss, this thought brought a wince to her face and she thought of the many unpleasant things she would love to do to Stuart right now. When the DCI had raised the issue of how to get regular information from Neil he had snidely suggested she posed as his girlfriend, probably payback for some time that she had proved him wrong, which was probably long forgotten by everyone except him, but for the moment she forced a smile onto her face and went inside the club.

Tony the barkeep was sitting on one of the barstools, his attention firmly fixed on the tv opposite him. Seeing no reason to interrupt his reverie, Tony regarded tv with an almost religious reverence, she continued upstairs to find Neil.

Looking around the dimly lit hallway she wondered where to look first. It was unlike Neil not to meet her out the front, or down at the bar at least, before taking her to a nearby park if they meet on the premises at all. Neil had made his objections to her participation in the case very clear. The suspects, as he had reminded everyone, were being investigated for rape, not only suspected drug offenses. Although he stated that he didn't want any female offices involved, grace had been around the station long enough to hear the gossip that the DI's objections were due to a somewhat soft spot for her.

Raised voices drifted down the hall and grace decided to follow them. As she opened the door, she saw a shirtless Neil tied to a chair, before something hit her on the back of the head and everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

Grace slowly opened her eyes and tried to remember what had happened. Looking down she saw a piece of rope roughly tied around her wrists and remembered what had happened at the club. She quickly scanned the room she was in, it was dank and dark, and seemed too have no windows, by the moisture trickling down the wall it appeared to be some kind of cellar. Over by the far wall she saw a body, scrambling to her feet she went to it and discovered it was Neil, he had cuts and bruises on almost all visible parts of his skin, but slowly sat up as she approached and removed his jacket and put it around her shoulders, it was only now that Grace realized she was shivering in her thin clothes.

"What happened?" Grace asked, "Where are we?"

"I don't know where we are, they blindfolded me, but I think we're about half an hour away from the club."

There was a creaking noise from the top of the small flight of stairs in the corner of the room and a light shone down, making the grime on the floor all the more evident.

Neil quickly pulled grace into his arms, she made a small noise of protest but Neil placed his hand firmly over her mouth and whispered in her ear

"They know who I am but they still believe that you're my girlfriend, and it would be safer if they didn't find out the truth."

Grace scowled but nodded and put her arms loosely around his waist, trying to avoid causing him any unnecessary pain. Despite her best efforts Neil winced as her arms brushed against tender skin.

They heard footsteps clattering down the stairs and two men came into view, one man was smoking a home rolled cigar and wearing a filthy bowler hat, Charlie, Grace thought, one of Antonio's hired thugs. Standing next to Charlie was Antonio himself.

"Well well", Antonio started, his Spanish accent was evident "I cant say that it's a pleasure to see you Neil, or should I say DI Manson? Although I'm sure my boys and I will enjoy getting to know the girl, very, intimately."

As he said this Charlie leered half menacing, half lustily at Grace

Neil tightened his arms around Grace protectively, whilst she paled a little, this didn't go unnoticed by Neil who for what seemed like the millionth time cursed himself for getting her into this situation, and once more vowed to get her out

"I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you", drawled Neil, sarcasm dripping off his every word "but you won't get the chance"

"It's a shame you feel that way, but it appears that once more I must show you what I am willing to do to get things done, I am not going to enjoy this, but you forced me to it, and I hope that your girlfriend remembers that, every screaming second"

At that moment two more of his henchmen came down the stair one grabbed Grace and hauled her away from Neil, whilst the other placed a knife at his neck.

"Now darling," drawled Antonio, lust and desire burning in his once cold eyes, "if you play nice and let me have some fun, everything's going to be alright, if you don't and in any way attempt to hurt me, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to do some rather unpleasant things to you and him."

His beady eyes roved up and down Grace's slim frame "Now darling, have you ever been raped before?"


	3. Chapter 3

Grace lay naked in the corner of the cellar, shaking with silent tears to ashamed to look up for fear of seeing the look of disgust that must be plastered on Neil's face. How could it not be, they had forced him to watch as first Antonio, Charlie and then the other man had raped her, the room had rung with her screams until they threatened Neil enough to sufficiently silence her, from then on she had simply cried, a seemingly endless flow of self hatred, disgust and pain. Staring at the filthy stone beneath her she marveled at how clean it looked in comparison to her tainted skin.

Neil sat in the corner wishing he could kill himself. He was consumed with a mixture of guilt and hatred. Guilt for what had happened to Grace and hatred for those who had done this to her. He looked again at her broken figure, strong, calm Grace, he could count the number of times he had seen her show emotion in front of him on his fingers and still have plenty left over

He got to his feet and crossed the floor, gingerly he bent down and placed his hand upon her shoulder and winced as she flinched away from his touch. Kneeling beside her he pulled her into his arms, holding her tight even as she fought against him, allowing her flailing fists to land upon his injuries, glad to feel punished, anything to drive away even a little of the guilt which weighed down his stomach and heart.

Slowly Grace calmed and fell still as he murmured senselessly in her ear. Stiffly he moved one of his arms, which had seized from being locked in place for so long, and stroked her hair.

He began to hum a favorite lullaby of his son jakes, and then began to sing softly

"Nothings gonna harm you, not while I'm around,

Nothings gonna harm you, darling, not while I'm around,

Demons are prowling everywhere, nowadays

Just don't you worry, I'll send them howling

I've got ways

Others may desert you not to worry whistle I'll be there

Not to worry ma'am

Nothings gonna harm you, not while I'm around,

Nothings gonna harm you darling, darling not while I'm around

Demons will charm you with a smile,

for a while, but in time.

Nothings gonna harm you, not while I'm around"

As he finished Neil realized that grace had fallen asleep, gently he wrapped his shirt around her curled body, then, as if on impulse, gently kissed the top of her head

Sam stormed into CID a scowl plastered across her face, she was an hour late as overslept due to the fact that she had been up well past midnight finishing paperwork, half of which belonged to the stations other DI, who obviously couldn't complete it due to his current duties. Silently she cursed all undercover operations and thought longingly of caffeine.

At this point Jo wandered into her office, Sam readied herself to snap, but then caught the scent of the coffee Jo was carrying and broke into a grateful smile

"Sorry to ruin your already awful morning" Jo drawled after brushing off Sam's thanks "but Grace hasn't come in yet, I checked with reception, but she hasn't called in sick and she's never been late, it's just not like her."

Sam scowled "I agree. Grab your coat; I think we should go by her house, maybe she just overslept"

"oh who will guard the streets from murderers and thugs" wailed Jo " all the cities finest are still abed"

Sam grabbed Jo's jacket of the hanger and threw it at her, rolling her eyes.

And I know its another short chapter, I have been trying to make them longer. Any feedback would be great, particularly about my characterization, im not quite sure where this fic is going at the moment, so any ideas would be really welcome.

-C.A


End file.
